Garage a la Rose des Vents
"At the Rose of the Winds"
2023
Driving across the Champagne-Ardenne region of France during our summer 2023 trip, we came across this interesting looking building purely by chanc on our way to our next location. The car was parked up and I went inside to have a look around at what appeared to be a long abandoned garage. What seemed interesting was the architecture of the building and the exterior signage. It looked as if this building was originally built for a different purpose and ended up its final days as a garage yet some research shows that it was always a garage even though there are some hints that it was originally a cinema but that seems unlikely?
I spent 45 mins inside capturing the interior and was in a hurry [we had our itinerary] so cranked up the ISO and went 'hand held' instead of using my tripod as normal.
The garage in its former glory
Once the owner retired there was no heir to leave the garage to and consequently the garage went into decline and was at the mercy of graffiti artists, vandals and the elements. When in use, this garage served the people of the area for many years. In 2013, the owner sadly passed away and the beautiful classic vintage cars that were inside the garage were removed [unfortunately for me!] along with some other interesting items. Photographs of these can be found if one searches on the internet and those old cars were a thing of beauty and should be in a museum.
I am led to believe that as of late 2014, the garage has been demolished or is about to be. That would be a shame if the lovely wooden signage couldn't be saved and put to some use as a historical reminder of days gone by.